I recently received an invite to a project meeting on ‘Teams’ and was looking forward to connecting and re-engaging with this team of bright and talented leaders. They had been working on an exciting and challenging topic, set by their executive board, and this was an opportunity to review their work to date.
On Sunday evening I was spending time reflecting on the coming week and what I hoped to achieve. I noticed the project meeting in my calendar and wanted to prepare for it so that I could give the team my support. However, when I checked the invitation for a meeting objective and agenda, or even a ‘latest update’ document, there was nothing. So, the project leaders had called for a meeting of a number of senior leaders and an external consultant without framing the objective or the agenda.
Back to Basics
This is not uncommon. All too often, meetings (both in person and virtual) are held in organisations without the basics of a meeting framework in place. It’s easy to get into bad habits and hold meetings without clear objectives, planned outcomes or clearly defined roles. We’ve all learnt that meetings need this structure in order to be productive, but often this is forgotten, particularly when it comes to virtual meetings. There needs to be a purpose to spending the time together ensuring we are doing something that can only be achieved when we are collaborating. Presentations or background material can be sent in advance and having a fixed end time for the meeting helps to focus the minds.
The irony is that as an Executive Coach, I so often hear Leaders say ‘I don’t have time to do this as I have so many meetings to attend’ as a barrier to collaboration, engagement, and creative thinking. Ironical as meetings are exactly when these things should happen.
A quick Google search reveals many surveys relating to the impact of poorly run meetings; here are just a few results:
- 30% of leaders report that they spend over 5 hours per week in meetings
- Organisations spend roughly 15% of their time on meetings
- Surveys show that 71%of those meetings are considered unproductive
- Employees spend an average of 31 hours per month in unproductive meetings
I don’t know about your organisations, but these numbers seem to be on the low side to me. I know leaders who spend the vast majority of their official working hours in meetings of one sort or another, often with no space between meetings to gather thoughts, write up notes or attend to action items arising.
Are we negatively influencing younger workers?
I recently read research that indicates poorly run virtual meetings can impact the workforce negatively and reduce efficiency. Meetings can start to be seen as interruptions that reduce the capacity for focused work and cause frustration for attendees, ultimately reducing job satisfaction. More worryingly, the research indicated that moving to hybrid working is reducing the engagement, teamwork, communication, and presentation skills of younger talent. The suggestion is that they are developing a preference for working alone. While this may not be a problem in certain technical roles, this could be a disaster for future leaders. Leaders need to be role models and coaches and demonstrate good meeting practices in order to keep everyone engaged and focused, particularly in times of change and uncertainty.
Practical tips for productive virtual meetings
I’m sure that you have come across these at some point in your career; there isn’t anything necessarily new about them, the only difference perhaps being that you learnt these things in relation to in-person rather than virtual meetings. There are a couple of things that are more relevant for virtual meetings. I include them for a couple of reasons; one is that we all need reminding now and again about what works well. The other is that in a virtual situation, it can be more difficult to pick up the signals from participants that they are disengaging, bored, or doing something else at the same time. Preparation is the key to making virtual meetings more productive and enjoyable for all concerned.
Keep cameras on at all times
So many people dislike this, as having cameras on means sitting in front of the screen and making it more difficult to multitask. But if a meeting is worth having, it’s worth ensuring that everyone is engaged and focused, and this is much easier when everyone can be seen.
Encourage participation
If a meeting is worth holding, it’s because more than one person needs to be involved in decision-making, problem-solving, or creativity. So everyone needs to participate. If it’s just about spreading news or updates, send an email or a recorded message. Participation won’t necessarily happen spontaneously. Make sure you leave room for reflection, for small group discussion if appropriate, and don’t move on too quickly to the next agenda point. If you need consensus, then you need to check in with each participant and ensure that they agree. Don’t mistake silence for agreement.
Include ‘check-ins’ and ‘check-outs’
In a hybrid working environment, we often miss out on those spontaneous chats that happen before the meeting officially starts, perhaps even at the coffee machine or in the corridor. These are the moments that are often overlooked but build that feeling of camaraderie and engagement with the group. I remember the first time I worked in France, how every morning when people came into the office they shook hands and wished each other a good day. Very different from the casual greetings in other cultures, but what a great way to start working, acknowledging your co-workers and catching up with them. In a virtual world, it becomes even more important to replicate those purely social moments.
Send information in advance
Yes, participants should have a clear agenda before the meeting begins, but also any pre-reading or presentations. Spending everyone’s time reading through the material altogether, where peoples’ reading and comprehension times can differ widely, is just a waste. Have everyone read and digest at their own speed ahead of time and then they all come together on the same page, ready to discuss, create and decide.
Include breaks
If you are holding a face-to-face meeting that goes on for a while, it would only be sensible to have regular breaks to stretch your legs, refill the coffee, and visit the facilities. These are often forgotten in a virtual meeting, although I might have questions as to how long you plan to hold your meeting. Two hours is probably the maximum if you are looking for people to stay productive and engaged, and my rule of thumb is to take a five-minute break for every hour on the screen.
Who said meetings had to be in blocks of one hour?
I guess the answer to the above is whoever set the default on calendar software to be in blocks of one hour. As I mentioned above, rolling straight from one meeting to another is not good for anyone, and often leads to action points being missed, and decisions misinterpreted. In the days when most, if not all, meetings were in person, this was even more of a hurdle given that no one seemed to allow for people to physically move from one location to another, resulting in everyone being late for every meeting except for the first of the day. One of the most useful tips I’ve ever been given was to reset the default time block in my calendar to 45 minutes. I learnt that most things that you can accomplish in an hour can also be accomplished in 45 minutes, that if the meeting ran over (as so many do), I wouldn’t be late for the next one, and if it did end on time, I had a useful break to write up my notes and ensure I was prepared for the next one.
These are just a few of the things that I find most useful to remember – hope that you do as well.
